Tag Archives: Standards for Mathematical Practice

Big Ideas Learning is excited to announce the debut of our website, BigIdeasLearning.com, and the redesign of BigIdeasMath.com.

Currently, when a visitor goes to BigIdeasLearning.com he or she is redirected to the Big Ideas Math companion website, BigIdeasMath.com. Beginning on Saturday, April 5th, BigIdeasLearning.com will now feature information about the Big Ideas Math program, Big Ideas Learning Professional Development, and the Big Ideas Math Blog.

To coincide with this release we have also updated the Big Ideas Math companion website. The new website will feature a sleeker design, but will include the same functionality and familiarity of the current website to allow teachers and students continued ease and access.

To access all of your Big Ideas Math program resources, choose your role from the homepage OR select the “Teachers” or “Students” tab.

From the teacher view, once you are logged in, you will have full access to the Dynamic Classroom and all of the other resources on the website in the same area you have become accustomed to.

Students can login to access the Dynamic Student Edition or can view the Easy Access Home Edition without a username and password.

Thank you for being a Big Ideas Math program user and we look forward to continuing to provide you with the latest technological resources to enhance your 21st century classroom experience.

As always, the Big Ideas Learning technical support team is here to assist you if you need any additional guidance.You can contact technical support from 8:00am to 5:00pm EST Monday through Friday by calling (877) 552-7766.

You can also e-mail technical support 24 hours a day by visiting www.bigideasmath.com/support. A member of our support team will reply within 24 hours.

Two weeks ago, Big Ideas Learning met with administrators in Michigan for the Big Ideas Math Symposium. Teachers and Administrators had the opportunity to meet and talk with authors Dr. Ron Larson and Dr. Laurie Boswell as well as meet and talk with Denise McDowell, Barb Webber and users of the Big Ideas Math program.

Recently, Cherie Maher, a math teacher from the Troy School District shared with us her wonderful story and picture:

“I enjoyed and appreciated everything I learned today at the Big Ideas Conference. Thanks for your hard work to help us implement this new book.”

“I wanted to share a funny story… Tonight, I showed my new Big Ideas T-shirt to my boys that are in 3rd grade and 10th grade. Immediately, they both shouted out their answers to how many 1/2’s are in 1/4. The 10th grader shouted out ‘2’ and the 3rd grader shouted out ‘that’s easy, 1/2!’ My 10th grader gave a condescending smile, and my 3rd grader gave a sheepish grin. It was great to see their reactions when they found out that the younger brother was right!”

“I have another son in 8th grade who was not around at the time, but later I asked him. His response was ‘2, no 8!!!’ “

(Cherie Maher with her sons)

Thanks for the great story and even better picture, Cherie! Do you have a story about the Big Ideas Math program? Let us know in the comments below!

Did you download and print any of the Mathematical Practice posters that we shared two weeks ago? If not, take a minute to go check them out! As a follow up to the first four posters, here are the classroom posters for Mathematical Practices #5-8.

Have you started thinking about your classroom setup for the upcoming school year?

Big Ideas Math has another great set of resources for your classroom! Inspire your students to think strategically and apply a wide range of math strategies with our Mathematical Practice posters.

Use the PDF download link below each image to print the poster. Then the rest is up to you! Laminate each one and create a display wall in your classroom, or use them as a resource in cooperative groups as students are solving problems.

Check back on the Big Ideas Math blog next week for classroom posters of Mathematical Practices #5-8!

Mathematical Practice 1: Make Sense of Problems and Persevere in Solving Them

Our video series on the Mathematical Practices is wrapping up today as we share our video for Mathematical Practice #8. If you’ve missed any of this video series, you can catch up with our previous posts:

There are multiple parts to each practice. The parts help students develop the habit of mind that is the main practice. Remember that the practices are defined as ways to help students become mathematically proficient. As we look at each practice, think of ways we can help students to take ownership of these practices.

In the eighth video, students are learning how to describe an equation. The Essential Question asks: “How do you describe the equation y=mx+b?”

Notice how the teacher probes the students rather than supplying the students with answers. What questions does she ask? Students are making sense of the problem and planning a solution pathway. When they begin to work on problems in their groups, they will be able to use these strategies, thereby building their proficiency.

• Mathematically proficient students notice if calculations are repeated, and look both for general methods and for shortcuts.

• By paying attention to the calculation of slope as they repeatedly check whether points are on the line through (1, 2) with slope 3, middle school students might abstract the equation (y – 2)/(x – 1) = 3.

• As they work to solve a problem, mathematically proficient students maintain oversight of the process, while attending to the details.

• Mathematically proficient students continually evaluate the reasonableness of their intermediate results.

As you look at your classroom, you probably see students with varying degrees of expertise in this practice. Our job, as educators, is to help students develop a habit of mind that helps them naturally think before they begin, make sense of what they are doing and persevere in their work. Ask yourself:

Do your students notice patterns in mathematics?

Are your students able to use patterns to formulate a solution?

Do they evaluate the reasonableness of their solution?

As students take ownership of their learning and develop expertise using the mathematical practices, the content standards (knowledge, skills and understandings, procedural skills and fluency, and application and problem solving) will make sense, allowing students to achieve success in mathematics.